The Army Of Light (Kestrel Saga) Read Online Free PDF

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filth—which he’d seen on more than one occasion—then so be it. The captain got
up and looked from the bow of the Mark-IV to the stern, then back to Trent. He
was impatient to get the minor repairs completed, not that it was going to do
him any good in the long run. Regardless, anything was preferable to standing
around with their hands in his pockets and waiting for a bag of credits to fall
from the sky. “Let’s get started.”
        
  
        
Regrettably, forty eight hours later they were only marginally better off than
when they’d started. In fact, they’d hit a standstill. The leaking strut seals
had been repaired, and  Sylvia’s Delight  was once again sitting
level. However, the electrical gremlin that was affecting the flight
instruments was still plaguing the ship—and the duo hadn’t even begun to examine
the damaged starboard engine yet.
        
“What about now?” Trent yelled from the back of the ship. He’d removed several
floorboards and two ceiling panels in  D ’s cargo hold in an attempt
to trace the offending electrical short. There were bundles of optic cables and
copper cored wires running like spider webs inside the open panels all around
him. It was a wonder that Trent knew where they all lead to—most of them,
anyway. In his hands, currently beyond sight in the ship’s overhead
compartment, he held an optical splicer that never seemed to work as well as it
should have. Trent’s extensive training told him that his hands should be clear
of the device when the repaired circuits were being tested, but the lack of
consistency in the splicer’s operation made that precaution untenable.
        
Sitting in the plush pilot’s seat on the flight deck, Shawn flicked at the
internal lighting switch on the control panel in front of him. He was half
expecting the switch to illuminate and be bathed in the soft embrace of the
overhead fluorescence. Instead, his optimistic view was dashed to pieces when
the switch indicator remained unlit. He pressed the intercom button to his
left, once more connecting the flight control deck with the cargo hold. “Nope. Nothing yet. Are you sure
you know what you’re doing back there?”
        
“ Am I sure , he says,” Trent muttered to himself, not bothering to speak
up loud enough for it to register on the intercom. “I got your nothing right
here.” He pulled out a thick section of faintly glowing cable from the
overhead, found the silvery connector at its end, and then plugged it into a
bypass port on the floor. “Okay, let me try something real quick,” Trent
finally offered loud enough for the captain to hear.
        
Shawn heard the shifting of equipment and a few indiscernible grunts. Seconds
later, Trent’s voice came back through the intercom. “Alright. Try it again.”
        
The captain once again reached for the switch. As soon as the circuit became
active, Shawn heard a loud thump from somewhere behind him. His eyes moved up
in surprise just as the overhead lights flickered on. Shawn, always thankful
for small miracles, smiled at the hum of the lights as he turned back to face
the microphone. “The lights are finally on. Good job back there.”
        
Not getting an immediate reply, he slipped out of his chair and exited the
control deck. After walking through the passenger lounge and the mid-ships
connecting passage where the berthing area was located, he arrived at the cargo
hold airlock. If, for whatever reason, the hold became depressurized during
space operations, this compartment sealed itself automatically from the vacuum
of space. Once he’d made it through the small doorway, he found his mechanic
sitting on the cargo deck floor near the starboard side of the hold, stunned
and rubbing his forehead vigorously.
        
“What are you doing sitting on your ass?” Shawn chuckled. “This is no time for
a coffee break. We’ve got work to do, you know?”
        
“I think I got shocked by the